


Restart

by Irrisia



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Bad Ending, Gen, In which Yu sits around and talks to Igor, Introspection, Nothing much happens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-01
Packaged: 2018-01-03 02:38:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1064753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Irrisia/pseuds/Irrisia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things that haunt him, now it's over; the hollowness of his friends' laughter, the gap at the table where there used to be one more face, the kotatsu on the table.</p>
<p>In which a bad ending is achieved, and Yu takes one last trip to the Velvet Room and is offered a chance to make things right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Restart

**Author's Note:**

> P4 Arena made me remember how much I love some of these characters, and someone (I forgot to get a name) had a prompt up for "what happened between the bad ending and a New Game+", so... yeah. Technically done, and I am appalling at plotting long fic, but I almost want to write the entirety of it out. Maybe with 63!Yu.
> 
> Not Golden compliant.

The train emerged from the greasy fog covering Inaba, although oozy tendrils of it still clung to the windows for a few more seconds, and Yu sank into his seat. Oddly flat voices rang in his ears; his friends, left behind now to uncertainty and the fog, saying their goodbyes in dull, lifeless voices. _Hopeless_ , his mind supplied, and he shivered and hunched over in his seat. He couldn't seem to get warm, or get comfortable, but he eventually fell into an uneasy doze anyway.

Then a familiar blue light surrounded him, and the scratchy fabric of the train seat became smooth leather, and he was sat in the back of a familiar limousine. The elderly man with the long nose sat opposite, chin resting on his hands. No-one sat next to him, though; unusual, he thought, and almost frightening. Then, too, every time before he'd always felt like the car was moving; now he didn't seem to get that feeling at all, and he pictured the car stopped in an endless sea of yellow fog and vague shadowy shapes and shuddered.

"Ah, our guest is back," said Igor. His expression was neutral, but Yu could hear what sounded like disappointment in his voice. "Do you remember one year ago? Your first and second visits to the Velvet Room, I believe. I told you a truth, back then, and asked of you only one thing."

Yu frowned a little; the memory was slippery, like so many of his memories these days.

"If you'll recall, I told you that your destiny would be decided by what happened over the coming year."

Yu did remember that, now it had been said. "You read my future," he responded, and his frown deepened. "A mystery, and a catastrophe. You said the future might be lost, depending on my choices."

"Well, now, it seems you do remember after all," said Igor, and he smiled, although it was perfunctory and meaningless. "Now, try to recall what it was that was asked of you."

"...something about consequences," said Yu. "Did I understand that I would have to accept responsibility for my choices...? Was that it?"

"I suppose it is close enough," was the only reply. "Well, shall we look at the cards once more?" Igor didn't even wait for an answer before waving his hand over the table, and the cards appeared in the same by formation. He gestured again, and the first card flipped itself. Yu had seen it before. "The recent past, I think, is what we shall look at today. The Tower, reversed. Interesting. A problem still unsolved, although you may believe it to be over." He gestured once more, and a new card turned itself over; unfamiliar, this time. "Justice, reversed. An injustice committed, a refusal to look at a situation with an unbiased eye, or perhaps a false accusation and an unjust punishment." He looked straight at Yu, and Yu flinched, remembering Namatame screaming as he fell through the screen and a corpse hung on the telephone wires and the guilty sick knowledge of how and why he'd ended up there.

"Are you saying... it wasn't Namatame?" he asked, eventually, dry-mouthed.

"I am not saying anything at all," replied Igor. "I am merely reading the cards. Anything you may take from this is your own interpretation."

_Were we wrong after all_ , Yu wanted to ask, but he knew it wasn't Igor's place to provide answers. That was always meant to be his task. "Is there... a way of changing it?" he asked, and Igor focussed his gaze down again, at the cards.

"I wonder," he said, and gestured one last time. Two cards flipped, simultaneously. "Judgement. In its upright position, it implies acceptance of the past, and resurrection. The Star. Hope for the future, although perhaps not in the form expected." Igor smiled again, a sharp expression this time. "It seems that, this once, I may interfere. The Velvet Room... does not exist in the real world. It is not bound to the rules of your world, either. As an example, the linear nature of time may, in this space, be circumvented." He pauses, and Yu leans forwards. "But first, I must extract from you one more promise. The rules may be bent, once. They may not be broken, nor may they be relaxed again. Indeed, the punishment for failing a second time will be quite severe, and not merely for yourself. Nor will this iteration be erased entirely. There will always be consequences for your actions. Finally, you will not be the person you are now. This set of possibilites has failed, completely, and I may not interfere with that at all, lest it be noticed by certain parties I do not wish to become aware of this space's existence. However, a new set of possibilities may be grafted over. The person you will become will be similar, but not identical. Therefore, I require from you, in your own words, confirmation that you understand all of this."

"Who else will be affected, if I can't fix my mistake?" asked Yu, and Igor's smile, such as it was, vanished.

"I am very much afraid you have misunderstood. You cannot fix it. What has been done is done, and you will be marked by it in ways you do not fully understand yet. Still, I know what you meant to ask, and that I can answer. All those you have already formed bonds with, all those you form bonds with from now on; all of these people will suffer should you repeat your mistakes. Do you understand now?"

Yu swallowed, nervously, and the walls of the car around him seemed to loom over him. For a moment, he wasn't in a car at all, but instead somewhere cold and vast and alien, and opposite him sat something ancient and knowing and not necessarily kind. Then the world popped back into focus, and Igor was merely an old man and the limo was just an oddly decorated car again. "But... if I take responsibility for my mistake, and this time I get it right, my friends... will they remember any of this?"

"Perhaps, in their dreams. However, ordinarily, they will not remember anything of this last year. To them, it will be as if it never happened. Are you satisfied now?"

Yu sat, silently, for a moment, and once again the dull voices ran through his head, and he remembered the self-conscious way all his friends stopped really looking at each other. He remembered the way Yosuke had started saying "Hey, do you think we...", and then tailing off into "...never mind". He thought about how Yukiko and Chie had started making sharp comments to each other. Rise's smile, and how flat and lost it had started looking. The way Kanji's dolls had of looking smug and distorted from the corner of his eye in the weird yellow foglight. Naoto, and how she had isolated herself more and more behind dispassionate commentary. Teddie's disappearance. He remembered how lost his uncle sounded, that last day, and the silence of the house.

"We didn't find the right answer," he whispered, and felt nausea rising, but Igor was still looking at him, and he tried to sit straighter. _Acceptance of the past_ and _responsibility_ and _consequences of your actions_ and _hope_ , he heard again, and he swallowed down the sick feeling. "We were wrong, and we... I did something terrible. I... killed someone. I can... try again, to find out the truth," he said, and he made himself look Igor in the eye as he tried to find the words, "I won't be exactly who I am now, but it won't be much different. I'll remember... what we did but my friends won't have to live with it. But if I get it wrong again... it will be even worse, this time, and it won't only be me who has to bear the punishment. My friends, my family, anyone I am or have been close to... they'll be part of it too."

"That is essentially correct," said Igor, smiling again, and although there was nothing nice about the smile, it had something of approval in it, in a distant way. "Now, do you accept these new terms?"

"Yes," said Yu, without hesitation, and Igor just watched him for a moment, chin back on top of his hands, clearly deciding whether or not the promise was honestly made. Yu sat as straight as he could, although he had to take a couple of deep breaths, and looked as determined as he could. If it meant having another chance to save his friends, meant they could smile honestly again, meant one more try at keeping Nanako safe, he could do this. Had to do this, he amended, and held his head up and tried not to feel small and alone and afraid. It seemed to have worked. Igor nodded, once.

"Very well then, I believe we are agreed. There is one more small detail, but it is a minor point. Margaret, my assistant during your particular quest, will not remember any of this either. It would be most appreciated if she remained unaware of this incident."

"Uh, sure," said Yu, honestly surprised by this last request, and Igor smiled in the oddly approving way once again.

"Now, I must restart the car. Do not be alarmed by the next few minutes."

The car lights flickered, dimmed, and finally died, and everything went pitch black.


End file.
